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WILLIAM' G.BUNKER, OF PORTAGE, WISCONSIN.

Letters Patent No. 82,489, dated September 29,1868.

IMPROVEMENT IN TRACE-BUCKLES.

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TO ALL WHOM IIT MAY CONCERN:

Be it known that I, -WILIIIAM G. BUNKER, of Portage, in the county of Columbia, and State of Wisconsin, have invented certain new and useful Improvements inTrace-Buckles; and I do hereby declare that the following is il full, clear. and exact description thereof, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, making part of this specification, and to the letters of reference marked thereon, like letters indicating like parts wherever they occur.

To enable others skilled in the art to construct and use my invention, I will proceed toV describe it.

This invention relates to an improved vtrace-buckle, and consists in substituting, for the ordinary pivoted tongue, one which is secured rigidly to a sliding plate, and in so arranging the different parts that the trace may be quickly and easily adjusted, and in which the trace is not bent, as inthe ordinary buckle, and therefore not so liable to crack or break.

In the drawings;

Figure 1 is a top plan view of the buckle detached.

Figure 2 is a longitudinal vertical section of the same, in position on a trace.

The body, A, of the buckle, is made of the ordinary shape, and provided with loops, for the attachment of the belly-band, breast-strap, tc., and is formed with a broad, at strip or bar, a, connecting the two sides of the buckle-frame, as shown in'gs. 1 and 2. l v

`In this frame A, I place a, metal plate, B, the full width of the frame,A and secure ,it in position by the lug or pi'n b, attached 'to the cross-bar a of the frame A, the plate B having a slot, c, in which the piu IJ plays, thus allowing the plate B to slide back and forth. I l

Near one end of this plate B is a solid stud or projection, C, which serves as a tongue to hold the trace.

When the trace is to be attached, the plate B is pushed as far back from the bar d as the slot e will allow; the trace isinserted through, under the bar d, a hole brought opposite pin C, and the trace pushed down over it. The plate is then drawn or carried back until the outer end of pin C strikes against the bar d, thus hold- ,ing the trace securely, andpreventing it from pulling through, while the bar CZ prevents it from slipping or working up oil` from the pin or tongue.

Then the trace is to be unbuckled, the plate B is slid. forward from bar d as lfar as vthe slot will permit,

when thetrace muy be lifted oil from the stud or tongue, and adjusted as required.

The plate is guided in its movements by the side-bars of the buckle, between which it slides, and by/the ribs g, on the inside of thc frame, as shown in 'iigsyl andr2.

A buekleot` this construction holds the trace very securely, does not bend it, asin the old style, where, every time the trace was adjusted, a disiguring mark was left on it, and vthe trace often cracked or broken by the strain brought upon it while in a bent position. I

I am aware that buckles have been made with a sliding stud, but-arranged in a di'erent manner, with the stud extending partially through the trace, and supported at one end only; but they will not operate Well. In

my buckle, both ends of the lug are supported, and it is not therefore so liable to be brokenoic when great strain is brought upon it.

Having thusdcscribed my invention, what I claim, is- Tire buckle, consisting of the frame A, having the cross-plate a, with the sliding plate B, secured ther-cto by the slot and nin b, and having the rigid' tongue C, all constructed and arranged as herein described.

' WILLIAM G. BUNKER.

Witnesses:

JonN S. SMITH, NOAH J. Gunsten. 

